---
layout: docs
page_title: 'nomad license inspect command reference'
description: |
  The `nomad license inspect` command inspects a Nomad Enterprise license to see if it is valid with the installed Nomad binary.
---

# `nomad license inspect` command reference

The `license inspect` command is used to inspect and validate a Nomad Enterprise
license. It will read the license from a file on disk or an environment variable
and exit non-0 if the license is not valid with the Nomad binary.

This command should always be run with the new binary before upgrading Nomad on a server,
as the server agent will not start with an invalid license.

<EnterpriseAlert />

## Usage

```plaintext
nomad license inspect [/path/to/license.hclic]
```

## Examples

With a license file argument:

```shell-session
$ nomad license inspect /path/to/nomad/license.hclic
Source: /path/to/nomad/license.hclic
Product: nomad
License ID: aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa
Customer ID: bbbbbbbb-bbbb-bbbb-bbbb-bbbbbbbbbbbb
Installation ID: *
Issue Time: 2021-12-01 17:49:23.021041516 +0000 UTC
Start Time: 2021-12-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
Expiration Time: 2023-12-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
Termination Time: 2024-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
Build Date: 2000-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
Flags: {
   "modules": [
      "multicluster-and-efficiency",
      "governance-policy"
   ]
}

License is valid
```

With a license file environment variable:

```shell-session
$ export NOMAD_LICENSE_PATH=/path/to/nomad/license.hclic
$ nomad license inspect
Source: /path/to/nomad/license.hclic (path from the NOMAD_LICENSE_PATH environment variable)
Product: nomad
.....
License is valid
```

With a license string environment variable:

```shell-session
$ export NOMAD_LICENSE=full-license-text-string
$ nomad license inspect
Source: NOMAD_LICENSE environment variable
.....
License is valid
```

## Example error

```shell-session
$ nomad license inspect license.hclic
...
Validation Errors:
   * license is no longer valid
   * license expiration date is before version build date: expiration=2023-01-13T23:59:59Z build=2023-03-17T00:00:00Z
```
